The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1887-02-04

the name has the air ol giving piece
of one mild. Tie frequency witt
which particular names are met will
varies with til" locality. In ScotlanG
the locality Of some names is particu-
larly W, t,iin"d. We have Mac
Donald, AucArnnie, Robertson and
Stewart in the north: Scott. Kerr,
Elliot, join ,on and Maxwell
in the south; Gordon, Forbes
Grant and Ogilvie in the east:
and C"n,aaell, Cameron, Mac
Lean and ....oedy in the west. "This
arises from thr "lansmen having made
Il practice 81 taking the name of their
chiefs and considering themselves mem
bers OF their family by adoption, if
not otherwise" There are some
names met with in England which
appear never to have crossed the
border. Among those of which En-
gland may thus claim to have monop-
oily. we find Churchyard. Deadman,
Scamp, Swindler, Gotobed, Slaughter,
Startup, Twentyman, Allbones, Little
proud, Fudge. Puddle and Wiliblood.
The most prevalent surnames in Scot
land, according to Mr.. George Seton,
are Smith, the name of one person in
every sixty-nine; Macdonald, one in
seventy-eight; Brown, one in eighty
nine; Robertson, one in ninety-one;
Campbell, one in ninety-two; Thomp-
son, one in ninety-tive, and Stewart,
one in ninety-eight. zone person in
every twelve in Scotland" says Mr.
Seton, Twill answer to one or 9TH
er of these seven names" The
Smiths in England and Wales are
calculated to be about one in every sew
enty-tbree of the population. If we
take three common names of Smith,
Jones and Williams, one person in
twenty-eight will answer to one or
other of them. Life with good num-
Der is a struggle at the best. and the
success that attends us is influenced
more than people sometimes think by
the names we bear. Even the sound OF
a name is Of consequence. ''Harsh
Names" says Isaac Disraeli, evil
have, in spite of all our philosophy, a
painful and ludicrous effect on ouI
ears and our associations. 1t is vexa
tious that the softness of deliciou,
vowels or the ruggedness Of memorable
consonants should at all be connectee
with mans happiness. or even have
\ an influence on his fortunes" Some
names, indeed, are almost fatal to sue
cess; they simply suggest jokes and en-
courage familiarity. A man has nc
hesitation in proving "by thumps upor
Eour back how he csteems your merit
t you are called Twigger, OF Tapp, OF
rrundle, or Littleboy, but he would
lardly venture on it were you more
,ristocratic Montgomery, or Gas
.oigne. For man to inherit an
lbsurd or insignificant name is to
ave a stone tied round his neck
n childhood to keep him all his life in
he depths of obscurity. 1t would be diff
,ult to find a famous character in lit
'rature, or any thing else, with a sur
lame at least approaching in character
., say, Toothaches, or Bang, OF Baby.
Who could fancy a Squih or a Cable
visited at any time by the inspirations
of genius? John Wilkes expressed this
idea once in conversation with DR..
Johnson. They were speaking of Elk
nah Settle, the last of the city poets.
There is something in Names" said
Wilkes, (which one can not help feel
ing. Now Elkanah Settle sounds so
queer; who can expect much from that
namep We should have no hesitation
to give it for John Dryden in prefer
ence to Elkanah Settle from the names
only, without knowing their different
merits" Considerations such as these,
not to speak of testamentry injunctions
and conditions attached to deeds of en-
tail, have induced people from time to
time to change their names. The world
being as it is, and mans instinct lead
ing him to fasten on and worry the
ridiculous, it is often a sensible pro-
,eeding. Cuthbert is made to take the
place of Cuddy; McAlpine of Halfpen-
ny; Belcome of Bullock; De Winton of
Wilkins, and Ephraim Bug is trans
formed into the aristocratic Howard
Leisure Hours.